Bone loss and deterioration caused by bone diseases, such us Osteoporosis can be effectively assessed by quantitative ultrasound techniques. Considering the elongated and curved nature of most of the human bones and, its complex structure surrounded by biological tissues, this study proposes the application of an ultrasound axial transmission technique to investigate the impact of bone curvature and the surrounding soft-tissue on the shear wave velocity measurement of bone tube samples. Measurements were validated by 3D elastic-FDTD simulations of bone tube models. Shear wave observations were analyzed in time and frequency domains. In previous measurements on plate samples (thickness: 1–2 mm), shear waves were observed at large incident angles. Similarly, it was found that shear velocity measurements of tube samples were not affected despite the bone curvature and the mimicking soft-tissue layer added. Present results suggested the possibility of implementing shear wave measurements for in vivo bone evaluation.
A quantitative ultrasound technique with the advantages of an axial transmission measurement was applied in this study for the characterization of ultrasonic waves in the MHz range. This study focuses on the evaluation and effective detection of shear waves in bone plates. Subsequently, wave propagation in a homogeneous and isotropic bone model is analyzed using the finite-difference time-domain, (FDTD) method. A comparative analysis is presented between the experimental measurements and simulation results. Ultrasound generated and detected at different incident angles, revealed that longitudinal or shear waves can be observed depending on the angle. Wave velocity measurements in the anisotropic medium of the bone plate showed good agreement with the FDTD isotropic model results, suggesting that isotropic models could give a reliable estimation for measurements performed in the axial direction of the cortical bone. Finally, this study confirmed the possibility of shear wave detection using the axial transmission technique.
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